Social perception of wearing masks: An exploratory study

Abstract

Covid-19 changed our daily lifestyle in different ways, may it be in the form of social distancing, lockdowns, or wearing masks. Masks will be included in long run as a daily essential accessory even when the situation becomes normal. Thus, impression formation, perception, schema and related phenomenon of stereotyping are sure to be effected. This study is an attempt to explore the probable facial features and type of masks that provides the perceiver a cue to make a rough idea of occupation to which the person wearing the mask is associated with. The qualitative analysis of the data provides us a clear understanding that there lies a pattern or basic idea of which mask type is most likely to be used by which professional. Also, there is an underlying pattern in which particular facial features are associated with a job type. This study clearly directs for future studies on similar grounds.